Love and Nihilism
by Cube 166
Summary: 6 months on from the events of Psychonauts a psycho-terrorist has been captured by Agent Travis Vert. But things have gone wrong, Travis is unreachable and his wife has been involved in a strange incident. Sasha has no choice to involve Raz. COMPLETE
1. Unique Circumstances

_Authors Note:_ _This story takes place roughly six months after the events of Psychonauts. There are only a couple of minor assumptions of what happened in the immediate aftermath of the game this being that Raz has met and rescued Truman Zanatto (Lili's father and the grand head of the psychonauts), and that during this rescue Raz learned an additional ability known as Soothing. Soothing is explained during the storyline but it is essentially a method to subdue psycho-terrorists._

_For the purposes of this story Raz's full name is Razputin Aquato._

Love and Nihilism

Chapter 1: Unique Circumstances

Yolanda Vert was tall with long blonde hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a fashionable black coat and skinny black jeans. She was carrying a selection of bags from various high street shops but she probably wouldn't have been able to tell you what was in them. She was walking down the high street lost in her own thoughts. Her expression was unfocused and she was staring off into the middle distance. Her thoughts bounced from one topic to another but always came back to Travis. He was perfect. She hadn't known him that long, only a year. Last month they'd got married. It was the most perfect day ever. She missed him. Everything was fine between them but he was a psychonaut. He had an important job to do. She didn't even mind that she didn't see quite as much of him as she liked. She liked the idea of him out there saving people. Her hero. And when he could be he was there for her.

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted a coffee shop and walked inside. She walked up to the counter and ordered an espresso. It was kind of odd really. Yolanda loved Travis but even now, after having known him for a year she was still caught off guard by his psychic abilities. She took the espresso, paid without even noticing how overpriced it was, and took a seat at the window. The coffee shop was quite full for the time of day. Yolanda was sat adjacent to a pair of lovers fawning over one another and laughing at some private joke. She didn't notice them. She didn't even notice the stockbroker who was on a nearby table talking loudly into his mobile phone about some unimportant deal. She was still thinking about Travis. It was odd to be thinking something and Travis would respond. It was disconcerting to a certain extent, but it was great. As a consequence he always knew how exactly what was bothering her and what to say.

Travis had been away for a while now. It was official psychonauts business so he wasn't allowed to give her the details. She imagined that he was fighting bad guys in some tropical locale somewhere, making the world safe for everyone. She took a sip of the espresso and wondered when she'd see Travis again. The background noise of the shop carried on unheeded. The stockbroker was talking about his latest acquisitions or whatever it is stockbrokers talk about and the lovers were telling each other how much they loved each other. Everything went black and the next thing she knew there the furniture was broken and a number of dead bodies were lying around the place.

* * *

"When you're in someone's mind, it's difficult to tell what's real and what isn't. It's better to send someone the agent knows, as they are much more recognisable as a real person. If you send someone the agent doesn't know there are tests that can ascertain whether they are a genuine psychonaut or just a clever figment. Asking questions that take someone out of the immediate context is not as effective as it once was. It used to be a foolproof method, beings of imagination used to carry information relevant only to their situation. Asking them the date of the Battle of Hastings, for example, would prove once and for all whether they were another agent or an impostor. However psychic criminals got wise to this and started training their figments to contain more information. The current most popular way to tell apart an agent and an impostor is to get them to use their imagination."

Raz was lying face down on his hammock. He was wearing his psychonauts uniform. He had been practically every day since he got back, just in case something happened that required his immediate attention. His elbows were propping up his head and a thick grey book lay open in front of him. The book was a psychonauts operations manual. A book that promised advanced techniques and delivered procedures and regulations.

Raz had been surprised to learn about the stringent rules for psychonauts. No entering minds without approval forms signed in triplicate. No removal of figments, mental cobwebs or sorting of emotional baggage without prewritten permission. Apparently this rule had been brought in by a pressure group that had lobbied to keep minds unspoilt. Their motto was 'take no memories and leave not even footprints'. Even to use clairvoyance on someone was strictly prohibited without the subject's express permission and completely forbidden on animals.

Raz could see this up to a point, but surely it should be up to the best judgement of the psychonaut. The way that the rules currently did things wasn't right. Raz had been making notes in the margins to this effect. He was going to have to talk to Lili's father about all these regulations the next time he saw him.

Raz's dad stood in the doorway. "We've got visitors Razputin." he said. "Ford and Sasha. Official Psychonauts business."

"Thanks dad." Said Raz, as he levitated the handbook back to the table and climbed down from the hammock.

"I imagine I've probably got something to sort out somewhere." said Raz's dad, gesturing towards the big top. It was about nine in the evening. The circus was in full swing; currently the fire-eaters were doing the whole fire-eating bit. The acrobats would be going up soon. The whole circus thing was rather repetitive. There's only so many times you can see a clown fall over, an acrobat swing from trapeze to trapeze and a lion tamer tame a lion before you got bored of it. It was all so much background noise to Raz, but not so to Ford who was stood at the entrance to the Big Top, with a large block of psitanium affixed to his back, cheering them on. As Raz's dad walked back to the Big Top, Sasha walked into the small tent.

"Greetings Razputin." said Sasha. "We have a matter of the utmost importance that requires immediate attention. I'll go through it on the way back to Whispering Rock, but it's imperative we get back as soon as possible." Sasha followed Raz's gaze to Ford, who was jumping up and down and cheering wildly. "Perhaps a larger piece of psitanium might have been advisable."

"Maybe." said Raz, turning away and grabbing a pre-packed backpack. "I'm ready to go immediately."

"Meet me in the jet then. I'll see if I can prise Ford away before they bring on the clowns." said Sasha.

"You might need some help with that." said Raz.

* * *

The jet had had a refit since Raz had last been in it. The new style had quite a retro feel to it. It was all done in chrome with sleek science-fictionesque angles on all the furniture to the point where you couldn't tell what the furniture was any more. The control panel had evidently been replaced with a ships wheel (one made of chrome of course) and around the edges of the room were bars of blue neon.

"Very stylish." said Raz, "Maybe you went a bit overboard making a sofa and cushions out of chrome though."

"We had a lot spare," said Ford. "It seemed a shame to let it go to waste."

"To business Razputin." said Sasha. "Last month Agent Travis Vert managed to capture psycho-terrorist Quentin Void." There was a pause.

"Quentin Void?" asked Raz.

"You haven't heard about him?" asked Sasha.

"I've been a bit busy." said Raz. "You seem to be sending more protocol handbooks and psychic discipline manuals every other day."

"Quentin Void is a merciless killer. He's been attacking all over the country: government buildings, banks, museums, shops, warehouses, libraries, factories, the list goes on. He claims he was trying to topple civilisation and give everyone a chance at a better life. He's killed thousands in the few weeks he was loose. One of the most powerful and most deranged enemies we've had to deal with." said Sasha. "Fortunately Travis managed to subdue him and he's been trying to get into his mind ever since, with no luck. Four days ago Travis finally managed to get into Quentin's mind. We haven't heard from him since, this isn't generally a good sign but it's been made worse by the crisis."

"Crisis?" asked Raz. "Is this another news story I should have heard about?"

"No." said Sasha. "Last month Travis married a non-psychic called Yolanda Jaune. Today Yolanda killed seven people in a coffee shop using psychic powers." There was a serious pause. "Alyxandyr, head of personnel wants me to get Travis out, so he can be questioned and then wants me to search around in Quentin's mind to see if there's any connection between him and Yolanda. The problem is, I can't get into Quentin's mind, so unfortunately I'm going to have to ask you to get in there and get Travis out."

"No problem." said Raz.

"Don't get cocky Razputin." said Sasha. "I didn't want to get you involved in this. I wouldn't have done was it not for the unique circumstances. Quentin is probably one of the most disturbed people we've ever had to deal with. I can only imagine the horror you'll find in his mind."

"I understand." said Raz.


	2. Dystopia

Love and Nihilism

Chapter 2: Dystopia

Black clouds gathered overhead and only a pale light coming from near the door illuminated the rooftop. The full moon shone down from a hole in the clouds. Standing behind the small wall at the edge of the rooftop is a man dressed in a long black cloak. His attire, despite being black enough to camouflage into the city walls was of an intricate nature with an elaborate collar and lapels. He had short black hair and pale white skin. His one visible eye was green and he was clean-shaven. In front of his right eye floated a small device shaped like a pointed oval. Markings on the device resembled that of an eye and glowed a dull shade of electronic orange in the darkness. As the man examined his surroundings it's pieces shifted and focused.

He had been staring straight down towards the streets, but now shifted his gaze towards the city in front of him. He produced a small device from his pocket and gripped it tightly focusing on a building a few blocks from him. After a second the air started a shimmer around him and a bolt of lightning shot down from the clouds overhead. A second later Travis was gone.

* * *

Four days later Raz, Sasha and Ford were walking down the steps into Sasha's Lab where Quentin Void was being kept. It looked largely the same as it had done the last time Raz had been down here, except the Brain Tumbler had been packed up and was being stored in a corner of the room. In its place were three makeshift beds. On the bed to the left was a man dressed entirely in black. It was clear from looking at him that he wasn't asleep but currently vacant. Raz guessed that this was Travis Vert. In the central bed was a nondescript man. He looked quite weak. His face was a mass of cuts and bruises and his left eye was blackened. His hair was medium length, brown and matted with blood. He was wearing a white shirt that was splattered with blood. Overall he gave the impression of an office worker who had just escaped from a particularly nasty fight or a relatively mild war. He was strapped down to the bed and had a psycho-portal open on his forehead. The third bed was empty. Ford wandered off to one side of the lab where a kettle had been plugged into the wall, flicked it on and proceeded to make a sandwich.

"That's Quentin Void?" asked Raz, somewhat suspiciously. "King of the psycho-terrorists?"

"Don't pay attention to what he looks like." said Sasha. "Despite being unconscious he still retains a low level telepathy and he looks how he wants you to think he looks."

There was a pause.

"So he doesn't look like some maltreated office worker then?" asked Raz.

"No." said Sasha. "If you concentrate you should be able to see how he looks really." Raz concentrated on Quentin's unconscious figure, attempting to dispel whatever power Quentin had over him. With a lot of effort, the figure in the bed finally flickered into a more athletic and less blood-soaked version of the person who lay there.

"Any luck?" asked Sasha, causing Raz to loose his concentration and Quentin to morph back into the feeble-looking version of himself.

"Yeah." said Raz. "He still doesn't look like the king of dangerous but it's an improvement."

"This is no laughing matter Raz." said Sasha.

"You're right." said Raz. "I assume this spare bed is made up for me? Although I hope I won't be gone that long I appreciate the sentiment." Raz climbed onto the bed adjacent to Quentin and looked across at the psycho-portal on Quentin's forehead.

"It isn't that easy," said Sasha. "He'll resist you as you try to enter, and whatever is in there will know you're coming. You'll need to be careful. See if you can pick up Travis' trail. That is if he has one. You'll need to imagine something to prove that you're not a figment of Quentin's imagination."

"Okay." said Raz slowly, attempting to take the information in.

"Good luck Raz." said Sasha. "I don't envy you."

Raz focused on the Psycho-Portal. He hadn't actually had to try and force his way inside before. Usually he'd been able to slip in practically unnoticed. It had been easy. He'd just focused on it and been pulled inside, so now when it seemed to be failing he concentrated on attempting to push himself inside. He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head and felt like he'd been repelled. He made a mental note to have some aspirin when he got out; this was almost certainly going to leave him with a pounding headache.

Raz concentrated and focused on the Psycho-Portal again. The background sounds of the lab becoming just that. He was dimly aware of Sasha and Ford talking about him behind him while Ford waved a tuna sandwich in the air absentmindedly. He redoubled his efforts and focused on forcing his way into Quentin's mind again. This time he slipped through easily.

"He's in." said Sasha, half pleased and half shocked. "It took Travis the best part of a week to get in there…"

"He's the strongest psychic I've ever seen." said Ford approvingly. "I'm glad he's on our side."

* * *

Raz was stood on a rooftop. It was still nighttime and the sky was still clouded over. The rooftop was lit by a solitary light, which was mounted above the door through which the rest of the building was accessed. Raz walked to the edge of the building and looked out across the city of Quentin's mind. Raz wasn't sure what he had been expecting but it hadn't been this. Buildings stretched out in every direction, most buildings appearing to be derelict and unstable. Some buildings were completely demolished and some aflame. The only building with any lighting at all was a skyscraper in the middle distance. It stretched high into the sky, reaching through the clouds. Around it were more skyscrapers, none as large as it and all seemingly abandoned. Columns of smoke were dotted all over the city, rising from the streets. Raz could smell the distinctive scent of bonfires, but throughout the city there was silence. Not even the noise of a fire burning. It was very disconcerting.

Raz guessed that Travis would probably have headed for the large skyscraper with the lights on. Admittedly there were an almost unlimited number of places that Travis could have gone and could consequently be, but Raz was sure that anyone would instinctively head for the skyscraper. Raz turned and walked towards the door to the building. He reached for the handle to find it wasn't made of metal at all but of a pinkish material that seemed familiar but out of place. Raz brushed it out of his mind. He was here to find a missing person not solve a mysterious door handle material mystery. He opened the door revealing a short flight of steps illuminated by a flickering light. He walked down the steps carefully and stepped out into a corridor. It seemed the stairs leading down to the ground floor were elsewhere. The corridor seemed a little better illuminated, although everything seemed to be a pale shade of pink. Raz walked by an open door that led to what appeared to be an office. However the furniture appeared to be crafted from the same pink material as the door handle was, including a replica of a computer. Raz considered making the strange material top priority as he passed more offices with similarly odd furniture, but eventually decided against it as he found the stairway.

He made his way down to the ground floor to a large open lobby area. The entrance wall was one large window with a door built into it. A series of security desks were roughly in the middle of the room splitting the stairs off from the entrance. They were also made of the material. Raz was getting rather used to it now and completely failed to be intrigued by it any more. What was grabbing his attention was a spindly creature that appeared to be traipsing around aimlessly. It appeared to be made of nerves and muscle tangled around bone.

Raz prepared a psi blast and stepped into the lobby. The creature spun around to face him. It had one red eye and one that was psychotically flashing between red and black. It was missing a lower jaw and a pair of fangs from its upper jaw scraped across the floor as it moved. Raz stood still, somewhat blindsided by the sheer horror of the creature. It let out a mournful screech and started to charge towards. The screech managed to bring Raz to his senses and he fired off a psi blast at the monstrosity. The psi blast thudded into the side of it's face sending a shower of blood and bone behind it and dislodging one of the creatures massive fangs but remarkably did not slow it down. It was likely that the creature hadn't even noticed. Raz dodged to the side as the monstrosity leapt at him. It crashed down behind where Raz had just been stood snapping one of its legs in the process. It howled plaintively then dragged itself back around to look at Raz. Raz focused on the thing and after a second or so fire sprang up along the back of the creature. It howled again and leapt for Raz. Raz wasn't quick enough to get out of the way this time and attempted to kick the thing off him. There was a crack of lightning in the distance and then out of the periphery of his vision Raz could see a dark figure standing to the side of the creature. The creature was snapping at Raz attempting to bite him with it's massive tooth but by kicking out and struggling Raz was able to keep it off balance and unable to do so. There was a bright flash of light and the creature fell off him.

Raz struggled to his feet and looked down at the creature. It had been sliced in half at the waist. He turned to look at the dark figure. It was the man that he had seen vacant next to Quentin Void.

"Travis." said Raz, gasping for breath.

"Don't move." said Travis, holding his hand to his forehead. He was clearly preparing another psi blast. If that was what had scythed that monster in half Raz thought it was a good idea not to get hit by it.

"I'm an agent." said Raz.

"Oh right." said Travis. "Don't tell me, you've been sent in to get me because some kind of crisis has happened on the outside world. The details of which you cannot disclose to me until we leave?"

"Apart from the last bit you're right." said Raz. "Something's happened to your wife. You need to leave immediately."

"Honestly Quentin." said Travis. "You're not even trying any more. This figment couldn't pass for an agent even if you gave him some stilts and an apron."

"I am an agent." said Raz. "I can prove it." Raz imagined a procession of angels all wearing military uniform and stamping on poppies as they marched through a graveyard. "Hang on. I just used my imagination, but how am I supposed to demonstrate it?"

"Use your imagination, kid." said Travis. "What do you think?"

"Why can't the policy just be to communicate that we're both real through a code?" asked Raz. "Whatever. Have you got a pen and paper at all?" asked Raz. Travis shook his head. "Is a short story acceptable?"

"Fine." said Travis, clearly bored with this encounter.

"In the small town of Hist lived a tree with nine thousand acorns hanging from it's branches. It had named all the acorns, initially trying to name them after famous singers from the nineteen sixties but it eventually ran out of singers and just started naming them a random combination of letters."

"Okay that's more than enough imagination." said Travis removing his hand from his forehead. "It seems agents are getting younger and younger these days."

"I think I'm more the exception than the rule." said Raz walking up to Travis.

"Come on." said Travis. "Lets get out of here before any more furies turn up." They walked towards the stairs that Raz had come down. As they approached a figure that was the exact double of Travis stepped out of the stairway and blasted Travis with a psi-blast. The Travis who Raz had recently been talking to dissipated as though he was as insubstantial as dust.

"Hello. I'm agent Travis Vert." said the figure. "In a small glade of lemons lived a tiny horse called Richard who ran for mayor. He won after having received a record 166 votes but accidentally he fell through a hole in time and space the runner up had to be made mayor instead. Don't worry; you don't have to prove your imagination again. I heard you the first time."

"Hello." said Raz, stunned by the sudden turn of events followed by the sudden and eloquent display of Travis's imagination.

"I can tell you're a first timer but in the future you need to get other agents to prove their imagination as well." said Travis. "And as to why we don't use a code; because we're inside the mind of a dangerous villain. It wouldn't do to have them knowing all our codes."

"Thanks for the tips." said Raz.

"Now shall we get out of here?" asked Travis.


	3. Mania

Love and Nihilism

Chapter 3: Mania

Raz and Travis were stood back on the rooftop of the building that Raz had been exploring. Travis looked just like he had when Raz had seen his body at Sasha's Laboratory but there was one difference. In front of his right eye there was a small mechanical device that glowed orange. It looked like it was some kind of replacement for sight lost in his eye.

"So you must be Razputin." said Travis. "I've heard a lot about you. Nice things of course."

"Call me Raz." said Raz. "What was that thing?"

"That blood and bones thing?" asked Travis. "That was a fury. They're deeply hateful things present in those that truly hate. Quentin's mind is practically populated by them."

"Are they what have been causing him to attack all those people?" asked Raz.

"No." said Travis. "They're more a symptom of a diseased mind than a cause of it. I may have found the problem though. I'll show you." Travis took a small round device from his pocket. He walked up to the edge of the roof. "I should come close if I were you." Raz walked right up to Travis and stood right next to him. "Brace yourself." Travis continued. He focused on a building a few blocks away and gripped the device tightly. There was a crack of lightning and the world blurred. A second later when it unblurred they were stood on the roof of another building. The building itself was practically identical but the view had substantially altered.

"What was that?" asked Raz.

"Psyport." said Travis. "My own invention. It's still in development. It's very accurate when you're in someone's mind but it requires loads of mental energy, hence the lightning."

"What about in the real world?" asked Raz.

"It's somewhat less accurate out there." said Travis. "Plus when used in the real world it needs a source of mental energy. You feel mentally drained after using it. Psylag I call it." Travis walked to the edge of the roof again, sliding the psyport back into his pocket. He was looking up at one of the larger skyscrapers. It was almost directly adjacent to the largest one, which vanished into the clouds.

"That was where I was going to go." said Raz. "It seems to be the most prominent feature in Quentin's mindscape."

"Good job I showed up then." said Travis. "Ever seen a mania?"

"A mania?" asked Raz.

"Ooh! I love it when I get to show people things." said Travis. "Here take my laserpsight."

"Lasersight?" asked Raz.

"Laserpsight. With a p." said Travis. The device that was floating in front of his eye floated to Raz. "Try it. It's fun." Raz hesitantly put it up to his eye. It hovered immediately in front of his eye.

"Focus up there." said Travis, gesturing to the large skyscraper. Raz looked up to the skyscraper and found that the laserpsight focused for him like a telescopic sight zooming in from a great distance. "It's good isn't it?" asked Travis. "The best thing about it though is when you use it with a psi blast. It not only lets you aim more precisely but also increases the power of the blast. It takes more mental energy, obviously but it's very useful. It's because of Manias that I made the laserpsight."

"You invented this as well?" asked Raz.

"Yes." said Travis. "I'm more the research and development side of the psychonauts than a field agent. Usually that is. Found it yet?"

"I'm not sure what I'm looking for." said Raz.

"It's on the roof of the tallest building that, well, that you can see the roof of." said Travis. "If you want to zoom back out just think it. The laserpsight is very sensitive." Raz zoomed out to the actual range and looked up at the roof of the indicated skyscraper. On the top of the skyscraper appeared to be a cloud of black smoke. He zoomed in further, as far as the laserpsight could go and it started to look less like smoke and more like a crowd of extremely organised flies.

"That's a mania?" asked Raz.

"Yep." said Travis. "They're one of the worst things you can have to deal with in someone's mind. It's like a mass of flesh eating flies… well except not flesh eating more mind eating. They tend to all swarm an enemy and eat their mental form alive. They leave you mindless, an empty husk. And once they have someone in their sights they never give up. They just keep coming until they're dead or you are. The best thing is to get out of whoever's mind you're in and never come back. Oh and they're always screaming. All of the flies are constantly screaming. It's deafening. At least it means you don't often bump into one by accident."

"How do you deal with them?" asked Raz.

"There used to be no way to deal with them." said Travis. "That's why I made the laserpsight. See the centre of the mania? It's core? It just looks like a black sphere."

"I don't think so." said Raz looking at the crowd of flies.

"Nevermind." said Travis. "If you manage to psi blast the core of the mania then it is destroyed. And hopefully Quentin's mind gets fixed."

"Fixed?" asked Raz.

"That's what we do." said Travis. "Fix whatever mental problems he's having and hopefully he'll calm down. Stop killing people and start being one of the good guys. He's talented. If we were able to rid him of this mania then we'd gladly accept him as an agent."

"But what about the things he's done?" asked Raz.

"You knew Oleander didn't you?" asked Travis.

"He didn't kill anyone though." said Raz.

"He could have done." said Travis. "But it was all because of mental problems he was having. He can't really be held responsible."

"I suppose." said Raz. He removed the laserpsight from his eye and offered it back to Travis.

"You keep it Raz." said Travis. "I've tons." Travis plucked another one from his pocket as if to prove that he had more and placed it in front of his eye. "I'm assuming you didn't just drop in for a chat?"

"That's right." said Raz remembering why he was there. "There's been a bit of a crisis with your wife, Yolanda."

"Is she okay?" asked Travis.

"That depends on your definition of okay." said Raz. "She killed seven people in a coffee shop using psychic powers that she shouldn't have."

"How long ago was this?" asked Travis.

"Just today." said Raz.

"Just today?" said Travis. "This actual day today?"

"Erm… yeah." said Raz.

"You must be even more talented than I thought." said Travis. "It took me a few days to get into Quentin's mind you know."

"I didn't." said Raz a little blindsided by this. "It _was_ tougher than usual, but I managed to get in within about five minutes." Travis reached into his pocket and pulled out some smelling salts. Raz did the same.

* * *

Sasha and Ford were still in Sasha's Lab. Sasha was sat at in front of his computer searching through piles of data on Yolanda Vert. Occasionally he would get impatient and start pacing back and forth in front of the beds. Ford was happily playing with a toy horse. Travis and Raz woke up.

"I should have guessed they'd shipped me off to you Sash." said Travis, standing up and stretching his legs.

"There you go." said Raz. "One rescued Psychonaut."

"I can see." said Sasha.

"I think rescued might be going a little far." said Travis. "It's not like I was in danger. I was just unreachable."

"Retrieved then?" asked Raz.

"Like I'm a piece of luggage?" asked Travis. "Sasha, tell him I'm not a piece of luggage."

"Sometimes he is." said Sasha, Travis turned and glared at him. "But only very occasionally." he corrected himself.

"You're friends?" asked Raz.

"Are we friends? Well I could tell you a story or two and no mistake." Sasha glared at Travis. "The glare is essentially an indication that I'm not being serious enough." Travis continued. "So we'll gossip another time. We should get down to business, obviously."

"Alyx has been breathing down my neck for the last hour." said Sasha. "Yolanda attacked more people. This time she was under surveillance at the hospital. Suddenly she just starts attacking people. She had to be psychically restrained."

"But we did a background check on her." said Travis. "No psychic background at all."

"Alyx wants me to dig deeper." said Sasha. "I've got swathes of information about her. Right down to what she got for Christmas when she was five."

"Anything?" asked Travis.

"A miniature drum kit." said Sasha. "No evidence of psychic abilities though."

"Where is she?" asked Travis. "I've got to see her."

"You know I can't let you." said Sasha. "Officially I have to question you about any potential connection between Yolanda and Quentin Void."

"Come on Sasha." said Travis. "You know Yol. Do your really think she could have anything to do with a psycho-terrorist like Quentin?" There was a pause.

"She's at Albion Hospital." said Sasha. "We'll go in the jet."

"Awesome." said Travis. "Can I drive?"

"No." said Sasha carefully. "I want to get there in one piece. Ford, do you mind staying here and making sure everything's under control?"

"No problem." said Ford. "Go, have your adventure. I'll hold the fort."

"You can hold it from down in your sanctuary if it would help." said Sasha. Raz, Sasha and Travis made their way up the stairs out of Sasha's Lab.

"I'm a really good driver really." muttered Travis as they left.

"Oh I believe you." said Raz.


	4. TravisLand

Love and Nihilism

Chapter 4: TravisLand

Yolanda was in a solitary ward of Albion Hospital now. She was lying in a hospital bed. She was more than a little concerned. After she'd blacked out in the coffee shop and woke up amongst all those bodies, psychonaut agents had come and picked her up and took her off to this hospital, apparently for her own protection. They hadn't really provided her with a clear explanation of what was going on but it seemed from the fuss and confusion that they didn't have a clear idea of what was going on themselves.

She'd blacked out again on the ward and when she'd come to she'd been in a solitary ward. She'd been told not to worry, as she hadn't hurt anyone.

They'd placed a little door, which they'd referred to as a psycho-portal, on her forehead and an agent had, she was informed, entered her mind. He was now lying on the next bed. There were a couple of agents standing guard. Yolanda wasn't sure if they were supposed to be there to guard her from something or to just guard her.

Yolanda just kept thinking back to that moment when she'd woken up in the coffee shop with the bodies and the rubble and the certain knowledge that she'd somehow caused it. She wondered where Travis was.

* * *

Raz, Travis and Sasha were making their way through the hospital to the ward where Yolanda was being held. Travis was delighting in holding out his Psychonaut badge and saying "official psychonauts business" to anyone who would listen. They made their way into the ward to be greeted by a woman who exuded the colour grey. She had grey hair and grey eyes, she was wearing grey clothes and had it been possible she would probably have had grey skin. She was incredibly thin, but not thin in an attractive way. Thin in a sharp angles and almost anorexic looking way.

"What's happening?" she demanded. "Why is he," she pointed a finger at Travis, "not being questioned?"

"There's no connection between Yolanda and Quentin, Alyx." said Sasha. "He should be here helping us figure out what has happened to Yolanda."

"And what is the kid doing here?" she demanded.

"Razputin is a talented agent and a powerful psychic and without him Travis wouldn't even be out of Quentin's mind." said Sasha.

"He's not authorised." said the grey woman.

"Raz, meet Alyxandyr." said Travis. "Alyxandyr is head of personnel. Which I've not researched but I think it means she specialises in making people fill out forms and just general making things awkward."

"Hi." said Raz feebly.

"Look Alyx." said Sasha. "Travis, Raz and I will be far more use to you with Yolanda finding out what has gone on here than off interviewing one another about things which aren't relevant."

"I already have an agent inside Yolanda's mind." said Alyxandyr. "You should be carrying out the task I assigned you, and I venture that you," she gestured towards Raz, "should be at school. Not to mention whom have you got watching Quentin Void? I sincerely hope for your sake that you didn't leave him under Ford Cruller's supervision."

"Agent Cruller is a perfectly capable agent!" Raz insisted. "As long as he stays near a large supply of psitanium he's one of the finest you have. And if you really insist on questioning Travis I'll be happy to do so while the three of us are fixing whatever is wrong with Yolanda, and we'll still fix it faster than whoever is in there at the moment. And if you have a problem with that call Truman Zanotto and tell him." Alyxandyr stood in silence for a couple of seconds.

"Okay fine." she said. "But if it all goes wrong don't come crying to me." She paced off past them and Raz instantly forgot her. They walked into the next ward.

"Hey!" said Travis realising something. "You know what's a fun game? Who were we just talking to Raz?"

"What?" asked Raz confused.

"We were just talking to someone. She was dressed all in grey. Who was that person?" asked Travis.

"It's not that good a game you know Travis." said Sasha. "It's not Raz's fault that he can't remember her."

"Who?" asked Raz baffled.

"Alyxandyr, head of Personnel." said Travis. "You'll get used to it eventually." Travis walked over to one of the maps on the walls, giggling to himself. After a second he turned and walked off down a seemingly random corridor.

"He always leaves me to explain." said Sasha. "You've just met Alyxandyr. Unfortunately she has an innate ability that she can't control. Once she leaves your line of sight you instantly forget her. She's developed a really ferocious personality in order to compensate. We remember her because we've got used to it. By the way you stood up to her and she backed down. Which is quite impressive, so well done."

"If she has a power as useful as that what's she doing as head of personnel?" asked Raz.

"She used to be a spy. She was really good at it. She could walk right into the enemies base without being noticed, and she could even ask directions or passwords to files and immediately afterwards nobody would remember." said Sasha. "However she got retired from field work for some reason which probably sounded reasonable at the time but which everyone has forgotten since."

"That sounds like a useful ability to have." said Raz.

"Probably." said Sasha, "But only if you could turn it off when you wanted. Anyway let's go and find Travis and Yolanda."

* * *

Travis was in the ward where Yolanda was being held. He was sat at her bedside talking to her. Raz and Sasha walked up to them.

"You know Sasha." said Travis to Yolanda. "And this is Raz. He's the youngest psychonaut since ever. And we're going to fix whatever's wrong."

"Don't leave me yet." said Yolanda.

"Okay." said Travis. "Sasha, Raz. You go and sort out the problem. I'll stay with Yol. Give me a shout if you need me."

"Come on Razputin." said Sasha, taking a seat next to the bed and focusing on the psycho-portal on the back of Yolanda's head.

"Nice to meet you." said Raz before doing the same.

* * *

There was an alarm going off and the lighting was red and was pulsing. The air was hot and humid and there seemed to be a lot of activity going on around them. They were in a large open room with platforms raised above a floor of lava. There appeared to be a gunfight between two groups. One of them all appeared to be generic looking people in generic looking uniforms. They had the look of stereotypical generic bad guy henchmen in a spy film. The other group appeared to be made up entirely of Travis. The Travis's were shooting laser beams out of their hands at the generic evil henchmen.

"This will probably be how she feels about Travis then." said Raz.

"That he's some kind of clone?" asked Sasha. "A laser-beam shooting clone?"

"No." said Raz. "That he goes around fighting bad guys and that he's a hero."

"Why couldn't she think that he sits in a field and nothing exciting happens to him?" asked Sasha. "As high an opinion of Travis as this clearly is it does make things a little difficult for us."

"That's true enough." said Raz. "What are we looking for?"

"Anything that seems unusual or out of place." said Sasha. "It will likely be buried deep in her psyche."

"Which means past all these generic evil henchmen?" asked Raz. Sasha nodded. Raz pulled the laserpsight from his pocket and placed it over his eye. He zoomed in on the nearest evil henchman, one that happened to be crouching behind a box, occasionally popping out and firing at the group of Travis's, and fired a psi blast at him. Raz and Sasha started making their way over to the group of Travis's.

"Greetings citizens." said the Travis's in unison as they approached. "Do not fear. I will protect you." Raz picked off another couple of henchmen and he and Sasha made their way up the steps to the higher platform. Sasha blasted one henchman that was coming at them from down a corridor. They made their way through a labyrinth of identical looking corridors and open rooms. The only difference between the rooms is that some of them had a massive missile with a countdown timer on them and some of them didn't.

"Doesn't Yolanda think about anything but Travis?" asked Raz while they ducked into another identical corridor.

"It appears not." said Sasha, blasting another identical henchman. "And she watches too many spy films. I've never seen a single villain with hordes of generic henchmen and an evil volcano base."

"I'm not sure the volcano itself is necessarily evil." said Raz making his way out into another seemingly identical room. This one was one of the ones with a rocket in the middle. Raz looked quickly around the room. He noticed that there was an unfamiliar looking man who had sat down at the entrance to one of the corridors.

"There's someone over there." said Raz, gesturing towards the corridor.

"It might be the other agent that Alyx mentioned." said Sasha. They made their way over to the man. It was only upon approaching him that they noticed that there was a henchman that had stopped in mid run just beyond him in the corridor. The man was wearing shiny black armour, which had various rods coming out of the back along his spine. He was also wearing a mask, which continued the rod theme right up to the top of the head. As Sasha and Raz approached the mask split in half and opened up.

"Sebastian Juke." said the man. "But just call me Juke. A ghost that goes to wash itself at a laundrette." Before Raz could remark about how peculiar an introduction that was he remembered the protocol of demonstrating that you have an imagination.

"Sasha Nein." said Sasha. "I can't imagine you seriously think that Yolanda is creating hostile figments but 'A tree covered in light bulbs deriving energy from ideas'."

"Razputin Aquato." said Raz. "A cat wearing a medal strolling through a funfair."

"It's true I haven't found any signs of open hostility towards us." said Juke. "But this place is beginning to seem like a deliberate labyrinth."

"A labyrinth is a mental construct designed to make any intruders go around in circles and prevent them from accessing the true mindscape of the individual." explained Sasha. "I agree."

"What's happening to that henchman?" asked Raz, who thought it too pertinent a point to not mention it.

"I have the ability to psychically distort time." said Juke. "It comes in handy when you need to take a break in places like this." He paused. "You're Razputin then?"

"So it seems." said Raz. "Call me Raz and tell me how we get out of this 'labyrinth'."

"Well essentially the way through any labyrinth is to find the backdoor and thus push deeper into the subject's mind." said Juke. "But if I knew where it was located I would have gone through already."

"So let me get this right." said Raz. "It's like there is two layers to Yolanda's mind and we're stuck on the first and we need to find a way to force ourselves onto the second deeper level."

"If you want to simplify it as much as possible, yeah." said Juke irritably. Raz focused and the corridor around them seemed to flap away as through blown away in the wind replaced with a house in a suburb somewhere. The scene looked positively idyllic, that was if you discounted the large and unnatural pieces of machinery sticking out of things. The large chunk of machinery coming out of the house was the most prominent. The walls along the right side of the house were cracked and slivers of metal were emerging from them. They joined up to form some complicated looking apparatus in the centre of which was a large clear glass sphere. Large chunks of machinery were also emerging from the ground, neighbouring houses, even from delicate looking flowers in the garden. Each piece was connected to a similar glass sphere although smaller.

"How did you do that Razputin?" asked Sasha urgently

"I just forced us in a little deeper." said Raz. "Through the 'labyrinth' and out the other side."

"Handy." said Juke getting up. "I think we can eliminate the idea that Yolanda is working deliberately against us."

"What then?" asked Raz looking around at all the machinery and spheres.

"This machinery is not natural. Someone has implanted all this in her mind." said Sasha. "It looks like a control matrix. There's probably a trigger word that turns her violent. Whoever did this likely implanted psychic abilities as well." Sasha turned and started to walk towards the house as he did so numerous doors opened in the air around them and censors started pouring out. Even the censors had occasional bits of machinery sticking out of them. The glass spheres were now glowing red. The sheer number of censors was unnatural. It looked like some kind of biblical plague.

"I think she's been activated." said Juke.


	5. The L Word

Love and Nihilism

Chapter 5: The L Word

"Activated?" asked Raz as the censors swarmed. "So in reality she's attacking whoever is nearby?"

"Good thinking Razputin." said Sasha producing some smelling salts. "Get into that house as soon as you can." He cracked them open and flickered out of existence. The censors seemed to be keeping their distance at the moment, showing an admirable level of restraint for censors. Juke's helmet closed up around his face and the censors seemed to slow down to half speed.

"That's the best I can do." said Juke. A group of censors from the direction of the house advanced on them. Raz threw a confusion grenade at them, which stopped them in their tracks and caused them to tear at each other wildly. Another group of censors, feeling brave, charged at them. Raz and Juke fired a series of psi-blasts towards them. Managing to get them all between them.

"We're not going to be able to take out all these." said Juke. "Sooner or later they're going to all come at us at once."

"Then we go around them." said Raz. He focused and the ball of levitation energy formed below him. Juke did the same. The censors seemed to speed back up to normal speed and all began to charge. Raz rolled straight for the small group of fighting censors that lay in front of the house and leapt clean over them. Juke caught up with him a second or two later. They ran to the house and opened the door immediately piling inside. The inside of the house was larger than the outside. It was just a white void that extended as far as the eye could see. However two figures were immediately in front of them. Yolanda was there looking blank with her arms folded. She was sat in a wooden chair. Behind her stood a man with long black hair tied back in a ponytail. He was wearing a designer jacket and stylish sunglasses. He had his hands on either side of Yolanda's head. He was standing as still as a statue and didn't look like he would respond to any outside influence.

"Vincent Blanc." said Juke. "Lets get out of here before those censors pile in." Juke produced some smelling salts from his pocket and cracked them open. He flickered and was gone. Raz did the same and was promptly gone.

* * *

When he woke up he was lying sprawled on the floor of the ward. Travis and Sasha were stood in front of him with their arms extended in front of them. Raz climbed up to see that they were telekinetically pushing Yolanda against the wall. She was flailing around manically shooting off psi projectiles at random. Travis walked up to her, placed his hands on her shoulders and soothed her.

Soothing was an ability that Raz hadn't learnt until he had had to rescue Truman, Lili's father. It was a pacifying ability that put the target to sleep. It was mainly useful as a method of subduing psycho-terrorists, however you had to be touching the person you were attempting to soothe in order for it to work. Raz was certain that Quentin Void who had appeared to be sleeping peacefully had been soothed into that state.

After a second she stopped flailing and collapsed. Travis caught her and lay her back down in bed. The man who was in the adjacent bed stood up and walked over. It was Juke. He was without his armour or helmet but he was still recognisable. Sasha turned to Raz and Juke.

"What did you find out?" he asked.

"She's being controlled by Vincent Blanc." said Juke.

"Are you certain of this?" asked Sasha. "This is a serious accusation."

"I'm certain." said Juke.

"Who is this guy?" asked Raz.

"He's an agent." said Sasha. "He used to be a psychic mercenary. He was responsible for a wide array of psychic crimes. He was caught and his mental problems fixed. That's when he joined the psychonauts. He's been with us for so long now. I wouldn't have suspected him of something like this."

"What triggered her attack?" asked Raz. "Was it us?"

"Possibly." said Sasha. "What was going on out here?"

"I was just telling her I loved her." said Travis. "Then she just…"

"As I said before there could be a trigger word." said Sasha. "I'll stay here and investigate. I'll check the surveillance tapes; see if I can spot anything. Juke, you go back into her mind and see if you can start dismantling that control matrix. Raz, Travis you go and bring in Vincent Blanc. Go and talk to Alyxandyr, she'll have his address."

"Sasha what do you think?" asked Travis. "What was it?"

"I don't think it was us." said Sasha. "There was a labyrinth in there to stop us from gaining access to that area."

"It was 'I love you' then?" asked Travis.

"I can't say for sure till I've watched the tapes." said Sasha. "You should hurry. Vincent isn't going to wait around."

* * *

Raz and Travis found Alyxandyr sat in the hospital café drinking a little plastic cup of machine made coffee. She was just how Raz didn't remember her.

"This better be good news." she said bitterly as Travis and Raz approached.

"She's being controlled by an agent named Vincent Blanc." said Raz.

"That's a serious accusation." said Alyxandyr. "Have you any proof?"

"Yeah, sure." said Raz. "Ask Sebastian Juke. He was there as well. Better yet go and look in her mind and you can see for yourself."

"Fine." said Alyxandyr. "I suppose you want something from me? You wouldn't be bothering otherwise."

"We need Vincent Blanc's address." said Travis.

"And what are you going to do when you get there?" asked Alyxandyr.

"We're going to bring him in and question him, or failing that go into his mind and find out precisely what is going on." said Travis.

"He lives in a houseboat out on the Medulla River." said Alyxandyr. "That's if he's still there. He's supposed to be here on duty. He probably knows we know about Yolanda so he won't be sticking around."

"Thanks." said Raz, turning to walk away.

"Hold up there!" Alyxandyr said harshly. "Now I know you've done a good job getting in there and finding out about Vincent but don't think that makes you king of the world. There's still hard work to be done and if there's any further decisions to be made then it's my jurisdiction, not yours." Alyxandyr continued bitterly. "Now get out of my sight before I submit to the voice in my head that wants me to pour scalding hot coffee over your head." Raz and Travis headed back to the jet.

"Hey Raz, were we just talking to someone?" asked Travis with a grin as they walked away.

"Yeah." said Raz. "We were talking to Alyxandyr, head of personnel."

"You remember her already?" asked Travis. "You're good."

"I was making a distinct effort to try to." said Raz. "Though now I remember her it's hard to imagine that it would be possible to forget her."

"She makes quite a first impression doesn't she?" asked Travis. "Or a second impression. I'm not sure."

* * *

Travis wasn't as bad at piloting the jet quite as badly as Sasha led Raz to believe he would do.

"Why do you think the trigger words would be I love you?" asked Travis.

"That's if they are." said Raz. Travis turned to look at him. "Okay but assuming that they are then it sounds like the plan was to get her to attack you."

"It doesn't add up." said Travis. "Vincent is a member of the psychonauts. He must have known that I would be in Quentin Void's mind. Plus it's a common phrase. She was bound to hear it eventually. If he wanted her to attack me wouldn't he have waited for me to return home from exploring Quentin's mind before programming her?"

"It might just have been a mistake." said Raz. "Sometimes people make them. If she'd caught you by surprise while on your own you might not have survived the attack."

"I suppose." said Travis somewhat sombrely.

"So you were going to tell me about you and Sasha?" asked Raz.

"Oh that's right!" Travis said. "He was the best man at my wedding. We've been friends since I joined psychonauts. He wasn't as well known back then but he was so good at what he did that it was just a matter of time. I wasn't as good as him. That's why I stopped doing much field work and went into research and development."

"You went after Quentin though…" said Raz tentatively

"Just a one-off." said Travis. "I had to. He killed my family."

"I'm sorry." said Raz.

"He didn't single them out." said Travis. "They just happened to be in his general vicinity. People who happen to be in Quentin's general vicinity tend to die. My family never had psychic powers. They were just visiting a museum when Quentin decided that museums portray a false idealised version of the world and are tools of an oppressive government that should be destroyed." Travis paused. "He destroyed the entire place. He left nothing standing."

"That's terrible." said Raz.

"You know the worst thing about it?" asked Travis. "It wasn't on purpose. It wasn't part of some great crusade to do persecute me, or the psychonauts in general. It was just chance. If it were personal then maybe it would feel like they died for something, because he had a grudge against us, or something. But no, they just got caught in the crossfire; more anonymous victims of Quentin Void. I had to see justice done."

"But is it justice?" asked Raz. "To help the man who did such horrible things?"

"Should I kill him? If I do am I any better than he is?" asked Travis. "Well yeah I am. But still, it's the right thing to do." Travis paused. "Anyway we're almost there now."

* * *

There was only one houseboat on the Medulla River. It was easy to find. Travis landed the jet on the riverside. Raz was sure that it was far from a sneak attack but that if Vince was at home there wasn't really anywhere he could go without them noticing. It was a cloudless night and the full moon lit the river in a manner that was probably peaceful for most, but since Raz couldn't help but see large liquid claws reaching out of the water it seemed more eerie than peaceful. Everything was silent except for the audible flow of water and the sound of their own footsteps was all that could be heard. As they walked onto the houseboat Raz became increasingly aware of just the wood separating him from the water. Travis carefully picked the lock with his telekinesis and they stepped inside. A pale light was streaming from the lower level of the houseboat. It exaggerated the shadows and made Raz ever more apprehensive. Travis looked incredibly focused which was disconcerting in itself. The room was full of opened suitcases flung haphazardly around the room. Travis walked over to one and opened it up. It was empty. They moved towards the stairs into the lower room of the boat. Travis turned invisible and then moved down them silently. Raz turned invisible and followed a bit behind him, being careful not to bump into where he thought Travis would be. The room was illuminated by gas lamp. At the far end of the room Vincent Blanc was stood watching the entrance. He was aiming a rifle at the stairs. Raz guessed that he'd presumably heard the jet landing and was waiting for them to come bursting in. There was a gunshot and Raz noticed that Travis had been attempting to sneak up on Vincent and catch him off guard. Vincent had missed Travis and where he'd hit the boat there was a stream of water flowing in through the hole. Raz backed up towards the stairs. Travis rushed at Vincent telekinetically knocking the gun to the side as he did so. Vincent blasted another couple of holes in the other side of the boat. Travis leapt on Vincent and attempted to wrestle him to the ground. Vincent quickly put up his shield knocking Travis back onto the floor. Vincent then telekinetically forced Travis down onto the floor and punched him heavily in the stomach.

"Raz, a little help!" yelled Travis.

"I've got this thing about water…" Raz mumbled, backing up another step.

"Raz?!" Travis coughed as Vincent punched him again in his chest.

"My family is cursed." said Raz quickly. "We're all cursed to die in water."

"Then help me quickly!" yelled Travis. Raz hesitated but then came running down the stairs and telekinetically knocked Vincent away from Travis and up against the wall. Vincent telekinetically lashed back knocking Raz over into the inch or so of water. Vincent lashed out towards the gas lamp knocking it over and setting part of the boat on fire. Travis fired a psi blast at Vincent, which he blocked with a quick burst of shielding. Raz pushed himself up and fired a psi-blast at Vincent. It connected with him and he telekinetically pulled his rifle back. He fired at the sides of the boat not even trying to hit Raz or Travis now. Raz attempting to push him up against the wall using telekinesis but Vincent turned and forced a large spray of water straight at Raz causing him to lose concentration. Travis leapt at Vincent pinning him against the wall. Raz looked around. The boat was really beginning to flood now. He walked over to Travis who was soothing Vincent.

"You won't stop him!" Vincent shouted as Travis did so. "It's already too late! He's going to change the world!" Then he went limp as the soothing took effect.


	6. The Money Pit

Love and Nihilism

Chapter 6: The Money Pit

The water was rising rapidly and as it rose Raz could see the hand of Galochio emerging from the water. He felt it hook around his foot and he toppled backwards underwater, the breath knocked out of him. More hands seemed to grab him as he lay on the floor of the boat beneath the rising water. Travis was carrying the soothed Vincent towards the stairs.

"Help!" he tried to shout. But it came out garbled by the water. Travis turned around and lashed out telekinetically at the water. The water was shoved away from Raz and he quickly climbed onto his feet.

"Climb onto something." Travis shouted. Raz vaulted onto the top of a table, which was only just above the rising water. "I'll be back for you!" Travis shouted to him, before carrying Vincent up the stairs. The wall of the boat where the bullets had punched holes in it was started to collapse and let even more water through faster. Raz attempted to telekinetically shunt the rising water away but there was nowhere for it to go. It started lapping around his feet again. He considered attempting to telekinetically move the table over to the stairs but if it tipped over he'd be right back pinned to the floor drowning again. With very little option left he started to panic. Then Travis was making his way back down the stairs and wading across the room to Raz. The water was rapidly climbing. Raz could feel the Hand of Galochio trying to pull him down again and gripped onto the wall.

"Here." he said, pressing a small round device in one of Raz's hands. "Focus on the riverbank." Raz was pulled under the water again, but as he was he managed to keep hold of device and pushed the button. There was a crack of lightning and the interior of the boat blurred and was replaced with the bank of the river. Raz sluggishly turned his head towards the river and spat out a mouthful of water. In the water he could see that the houseboat was almost entirely sunk with just the prow sticking through the water. That which hadn't submerged yet was aflame. Vincent was lying soothed nearby. He felt like he'd just been put through a wringer. Raz couldn't even muster the energy to stand up and just lay there and watched the houseboat sink. About a minute or so afterward Travis surfaced in the river gasping for breath. He swam towards the riverbank and climbed out of the river. For a couple of seconds he just stood and caught his breath, and then he made his way over to Raz.

"That psyport is hell isn't it?" he asked flippantly, before bending down and helping Raz up. "It's a serious problem." Travis said. "You see if I want it to run on any energy source from the physical world then it works fine out here, but won't work at all in anyone's mental world. But make it run on mental energy and it'll drain you dry." Raz stood still. He felt like he was still attempting to catch his breath but he wasn't even out of breath, he was still as physically strong as before but currently lacking the willpower to even walk forward. Travis satisfied that he wasn't going to fall down turned and walked over to Vincent, picked him up and carried him onto the jet. Travis then came back and stood in front of Raz again.

"How's it going?" he asked.

"Better." said Raz. "It's not very practical is it?"

"Not particularly." said Travis. "Although it did just get you out of a tight spot."

"Well I feel like the living dead at the moment." said Raz.

"The main thrust of that sentence should be the _living_ dead." said Travis. "Good old living life." Raz sighed.

"Shall we get moving?" asked Raz, as he managed to start walking back to jet.

* * *

Raz's mental energy was returning quicker now. They were back on the jet on their way back to the hospital. Vincent had been laid on the uncomfortable chrome sofa.

"Thanks for saving my life back there." said Raz.

"You'd have done the same for me." said Travis. "Fact is you did do the same for me, despite the water as well."

"Call it even?" asked Raz.

"Not quite, what about that figment that pretended to be me in Quentin's mind." said Travis. "You still owe me one for that."

"Hey Raz, Travis, how's the adventure going." thought a sudden and unexpected voice in their heads. It was Ford.

"Ford?" asked Raz. "What's going on?"

"Not much." thought Ford. "I'm a bit bored actually."

"No." said Raz. "How are you talking to us?"

"Oh that." thought Ford. "I was bored so I thought I'd amplify my telepathy through the psitanium and have a chat with you. What's been going on? Is it exciting?"

"No doubt." thought Travis. "It was awesome. There was a houseboat and we were creeping on board all silent and everything and–"

"We'll tell you when it's over Ford." said Raz. "We need to hurry."

"Well if you insist." thought Ford.

* * *

They made their way back to Yolanda's ward. She was awake again. Juke was lying in the bed next to her once again looking vacant and Sasha was sat talking to Yolanda.

"You were correct Travis." said Sasha as he saw them approach. "The last time that Yolanda attacked anyone she was in a more public ward. One of the other patients said the L Word and she was gone." Travis walked over to an empty bed and put Vincent down on it. "We can only assume that the idea behind the attack was to have you or her say the L Word in each others presence and for her to attack you. I've been searching through the records but I can't find any bad blood between you and Vincent."

"If this was an attempt to attack me then why do it while I'm in Quentin's mind?" asked Travis. "I think there's something else going on here and I intend to find out what it is. Would you just give me a minute with Yol first?"

"Of course." said Sasha, walking over to Vincent. Raz followed him. "So Razputin. We didn't really get a chance to catch up. How are things going?" Sasha pulled a psycho-portal out of his jacket pocket and affixed it to Vincent's forehead.

"Not too bad." said Raz. "Although I have mainly been spending the last six months waiting for a visit so I can get back out of the circus and back into… well… this."

"You do realise that for all your talent you are still very young?" asked Sasha taking a seat. "I hate to see you put in such danger." Raz sat down opposite Sasha.

"I know." said Raz. "You wouldn't have even called me in on this one if it wasn't necessary. But I want to help people. Staying at home reading protocol manuals isn't helping anyone. After this I want to be a proper agent. Not one who is just called in when needed."

"We'll see Razputin." said Sasha, as Travis walked over and sat down beside Sasha.

"Ready?" he asked. Sasha and Raz nodded. They all focused on the psycho-portal and then they were gone.

* * *

All that Raz could see was the glitter of gold. Golden coins covered the floor, amongst them were golden statues, golden urns and massive golden statues pouring golden coins out of massive golden urns making a the effect of a golden waterfall. It was all very golden. There were obviously other marks of colour in the room; the white of a diamond, the green of an emerald or the red of a ruby. All in all it was a very rich room. The walls were decorated in ornate tapestries. They were stood on a raised platform at one end of what seemed to be a very long chamber. A small (golden) fence was in front of them and the stairs to either side descended straight into the coins.

"I think we can see what Vincent's main motivation is." said Travis before letting out a low whistle.

"Razputin do you remember in Yolanda's mind how you 'powered' through the labyrinth?" asked Sasha. "How did you know that it was a labyrinth?"

"When I thought about it, it felt like there was another layer underneath." said Raz after thinking for a minute.

"Is there another layer here?" asked Sasha. "This feels like it could be a very elaborate dead end."

"No." said Raz. "This is all there is." Travis stepped down into the sea of coins.

"Come on." said Travis. "Less talking, more figuring out what the hell is going on." Sasha followed him down the steps.

"I think figuring out what the hell is going on will probably require a lot of talking." said Sasha. Raz followed them down the steps to find that the ocean of coins almost covered him. He focused on using the levitation ball to get above the coins. As they moved through the coins all that could be heard was the chink of gold against gold.

"Stand still." hissed Sasha stopping where he stood. Travis and Raz did the same but the chink of gold still continued.

"Greeds!" Travis hissed, preparing a psi blast.

"Greeds?" asked Raz.

"You'll see." said Travis. The sound of coins chinking against one another stopped for a second before a massive snake loomed out of the coins just ahead of them. It was gold like the coins and it's eyes were red like rubies. It appeared to be built to camouflage. It dodged the psi shots from Sasha and Travis and darted for them. They dived to the side sending showers of coins up in all directions. Raz spun around to try and see where the greed had gone but it was lost amongst the coins. Raz lashed out at the coins telekinetically, sending a massive pile of them towards where they had come from. The greed, unmoved by the telekinesis turned and sprang at Raz. He stopped levitating just in time for it to fly over his head and back into the coins. Raz fired a couple of psi-blasts in the general direction of where the greed had landed, but it didn't have any discernible effect.

"Any suggestions?" asked Raz. He looked at Travis who had just attempted to set fire to the greed and had started burning one of the tapestries instead then looked to Sasha who seemed to be looking off into the middle distance. The greed reared up from amongst the coins again and lunged towards Sasha. Sasha quickly fired a psi blast directly at it. With one hit it shattered into coins and rubies. Sasha turned and looked at Raz. "Yeah. Clairvoyance." said Raz. "I've figured it out now." Sasha smiled to himself.

"Good." he said. "Because here come more of them." Raz could hear the chinking of coins again from further down the chamber. One of the greeds sprang up out of the coins. Raz quickly locked onto it with clairvoyance. It lunged for Travis but Travis dodged out of the way just in time. Raz turned towards the greed ready to psi blast as soon as he spotted it. Or it spotted him, whichever was appropriate. From the perspective of the greed he saw himself, Travis and Sasha (well he assumed it was them, it looked like how they would look if they were dressed as thieves with large bags of swag) and just as the greed was about to pounce again he fired. The greed fell to pieces. Travis and Sasha were dealing with greeds of their own when Raz noticed a large shape moving down the chamber towards them. As it reared out of the coins it was clear that it was a greed but where the other greeds had been the size of adders this greed was like a massive anaconda. Raz forced all the coins in front of him towards it using his telekinesis. It screeched and slinked back into the piles of coins. Raz fired a couple of psi blasts at it, it being the size it was, was easier to spot in the coins. It launched itself at Raz from under the coins, catching him off guard and knocking him to the floor. Raz stood up again and turned around to attempt to see the greed. It hooked it's tail around his leg and then pulled him back to the floor, where it reared up over him. From this close Raz could see it's razor sharp diamond fangs, dripping with venom. Raz grabbed onto the greeds tail attempting to dislodge it. The massive greed prepared to pounce, Raz quickly psi blasted it in it's face. It snarled and seemed to back off a little bit, although not enough to unhook his foot. Raz thinking quick held onto the segment of it's tail that was hooked around his foot and soothed it. It screeched and wailed but after a second it collapsed, asleep. Raz dislodged his foot from the massive greed and stood up. He focused on the massive greed for a couple of seconds and set it on fire. After a couple of seconds it snarled and collapsed becoming just a pile of coins. Then he turned to look for Travis and Sasha.


	7. Twisted

Love and Nihilism

Chapter 7: Twisted

Raz made his way back to Travis and Sasha, after having been dragged away by the massive greed. They had just finished dealing with several greeds.

"Nice one Raz!" said Travis grinning widely.

"Excellent work Razputin." Sasha agreed. They made their way deeper into the chamber, as it did so it opened up into a larger chamber with a massive golden throne at the far end of the room. On it was sat Vincent Blanc dressed in exquisite golden robes. Vincent appeared to be asleep, or frozen like he had appeared deep in Yolanda's mind. There was a raised platform, like which they had been on when they arrived, behind him. On this platform was a door through which only white could be seen. They made their way onto the platform and through the door. As Raz stepped through it was like walking into the house from Yolanda's mind again. The horizon was just blank in every direction and all that was behind him was the outline of a doorway. Stood in front of them were Vincent Blanc and a man that Raz recognised, Quentin Void. They didn't respond to Raz, Travis and Sasha's presence and Raz guessed it was like a scene from the past.

"I'll let myself be captured by the agent Travis Vert." said Quentin. "You're to wait till you're certain he has made his way into my mind before you reprogram his wife. I'll put up a resistance so that they don't suspect anything so it may take some time. Understood?"

"Understood." said Vincent.

"When you've reprogrammed his wife, then you'll receive your reward." said Quentin. "More cash than you'll ever be able to spend Vincent. I believe our business is done here. Remember, be patient. Too early and it's all for nothing." Quentin and Vincent seemed to stop, frozen.

"He wanted to be caught?" asked Travis bewildered. "What on Earth is going on?" He stared at Sasha as if expecting him to clear everything up for him.

"I don't know." said Sasha. "We should get back to Whispering Rock as soon as possible. I don't like this at all."

* * *

Back in Sasha's Lab Ford Cruller was making himself a cup of tea. There hadn't been any change in Quentin Void since they'd left. Ford wasn't exactly sure what he was supposed to be guarding him for. People who are soothed very rarely spontaneously wake up and untie themselves. The air around Quentin was beginning to shimmer.

* * *

Raz, Travis and Sasha were back in the hospital and were hurrying down the corridors heading towards the jet. Travis had swept straight past Yolanda without even offering her an explanation. Alyxandyr stepped out in front of them.

"What's going on?" she demanded. "Nobody tells me what's going on unless they need me!"

"We're not really sure to be honest." said Travis words streaming out his mouth seemingly uncontrollably. "We went and got Vincent and we snuck onto his houseboat–"

"Be succinct." interjected Sasha.

"And we got him back here and went in his mind and he did a deal with Quentin Void to reprogram Yol." said Travis. "But he was told to wait until I was in Quentin's mind."

"Why?" asked Alyxandyr.

"I don't know." said Travis irritably.

"Wait a moment." said Raz. "What's the protocol when someone is unreachable, in a mind?"

"To get someone they know to go in after them." said Sasha. "People are easier to distinguish from figments if you know them."

"This is bad." said Raz. "He wanted to get into Whispering Rock. He mentioned Travis by name. That's why; because he wanted to be sent to Whispering Rock when Travis was sent to be retrieved by Sasha."

"Once again, why?" asked Alyxandyr.

"I'm not sure." said Raz. "But we should hurry."

"I'm going to mobilise every agent I can." said Alyxandyr.

* * *

Ford was humming a little tune to himself as he made his cup of tea. In the air near Quentin a creature made of bone and muscle and nerves and hate had formed. It was a winged creature with a pair of razor sharp grasshopper like claws and long pointed legs like stakes. It slinked towards Ford.

* * *

The sun was rising and they were flying through the twilight sky at ridiculous speeds. Sasha was flying the jet as fast as he could back to Whispering Rock. As a consequence they were flying a little more erratically than usual.

"You know when I was in Quentin's mind I saw something that seemed out of place." said Raz. "I recognised it but I couldn't place it." Raz gasped with sudden realisation.

"What?" asked Travis.

"What's the most abundant natural resource at Whispering Rock? One that's not available in many other places?" asked Raz. "Psitanium. A massive underground meteorite of psitanium."

"He's powerful." said Travis. "If he channelled his power through that psitanium, he could do anything. He could change the world."

"That's what Vincent said." said Raz. "He said that 'he' was going to change the world."

"This isn't good." said Sasha. "This isn't good at all." he pulled out his mobile phone from his pocket, wedged it between his head and his shoulder, and called up Alyxandyr.

"We should warn Ford." said Raz. He attempted to telepathically communicate with Ford to no avail. "Anyone got any bacon?" he asked. Travis shook his head in a confused way while Sasha didn't react. Raz thought back to Ford amplifying his telepathic power through the psitanium and attempted to do the same. Unfortunately that didn't work, as presumably you have to be a bit closer to the psitanium itself for that to work. Raz was about to give up when he remembered something. He ran from the bridge of the jet and came back carrying a large lump of psitanium, the one that Ford ties to his back when he's out on a mission. Raz focused all his effort into trying to communicate with Ford.

"Ford." he thought.

"Hey Raz." Ford thought back. "What's happening out there on your adventure?"

"Quentin is dangerous Ford." thought Raz. "Watch out."

"I don't think so." thought Ford. "I've never seen a soothed man suddenly wake up and untie himself."

"Ford. Seriously." thought Raz. Ford turned around just in time to see the fury attempting to sneak up on him and dodge out of the way. It swiped at him with it's claws. Ford psi-blasted at it, but it dodged out of the way. Ford turned and ran to the inconspicuous treetrunk in the corner of the room and dived in. The fury turned and made its way back to Quentin and used it's razor sharp claws to untie him. Quentin opened his eyes and stood up. He pulled off the psycho-portal and threw it to one side. Throughout the camp the air started to shimmer.

* * *

The jet landed just outside the gates of Whispering Rock. Sasha, Raz and Travis got out. Raz headed straight for the gates.

"Wait Razputin!" said Sasha. "We should wait for backup to get here."

"No!" said Raz. "If Quentin is as dangerous as you say he is there's no time to lose. We need to stop him now."

"If we go in there without proper backup we're as good as dead." said Sasha.

"I'm going in, before it's too late." said Raz turning and walking toward the gates.

"Me too Sash." said Travis. "Don't wait up."

"Travis!" said Sasha. "This is dangerous! If people go running in without backup then someone's going to get killed!"

"I know." said Travis. "That's why I'm backing him up."

* * *

Raz and Travis pushed open the large wooden gates using their telekinesis. The car park was empty which wasn't surprising as most of Whispering Rock was empty at this time of year. Raz looked around the car park, looking for a hint of movement or anything unusual. Seeing nothing particularly threatening Raz and Travis walked a little further into the car park. Suddenly there was a loud crash and the massive tree trunk in the centre of the car park exploded into fragments. Stood behind it was a fury. It was roughly humanoid in shape but one arm was just a pointed stake of bone and the other was a large bloated twisted mess of muscles and nerves that was twice the size of the rest of it's body. Massive spines and needles stuck out of the arm at odd angles. It had no eyes or mouth, with just a blank chunk of bone where it's face should have been. It dragged itself through the wreckage of the tree trunk towards Raz and Travis. They fired a couple of psi blasts at it. It pounded it's massive spiny arm on the floor, causing a massive crack in the car park and then started running for where Raz and Travis were standing. They dodged out of the way, but the creature swiped at Raz with it's bloated arm and knocked him flying. Raz hit the ground and skidded to a halt near the basketball hoop. He climbed up and looked over towards the fury. Travis was psi blasting at it. It didn't seem to even notice the blasts. Raz looked around and noticed a log immediately behind him. He telekinetically grabbed it and launched it at the fury. It hit it full in it's smooth bone face, cracking open the bone and sending a shower of blood off behind it. The fury made a noise that was somewhere between a scream a roar and a gargle and turned and ran at Raz. Raz focused and created a ball of levitation energy below him. He leapt up just in time to make it clear over the fury. The fury crashed into the rock that had been behind Raz. There was the sound of a snap and when it turned back it's stumpish stake arm had broken off. It loomed over Raz and raised it's bloated arm over it's head.

"Heads up!" yelled Travis as a log flew toward the fury and ploughed into it's arm. With a scream of pain the fury's arm broke off. Raz turned and ran back towards the gate. The fury started limping after him, armless but angry. The air around the fury started to shimmer.

"That's not a good sign." said Raz uncertainly. After a second the creature started to screech and moan in pain as it's arms started to grow back. "Okay." said Raz, looking away. "That's worrying."

"And also gross." agreed Travis.

"Maybe we should go back and wait for backup?" suggested Raz.


	8. Furies

Love and Nihilism

Chapter 8: Furies

The fury was within a minute whole again. The cracks in it's blank bone face gone, it's arm just as bloated and spiny as before. Raz and Travis ran back through the gate out of the car park and pulled the gate shut with their telekinesis, while the fury started running towards them. It crashed into the gate just as they shut it and the fence shook. Raz and Travis started backing away. The fury took a step back then brought down it's massive bloated arm on the gate shattering it into fragments. There was the noise of an engine running. Raz looked behind him and Coach Oleander's truck was coming straight for them. Raz dodged out of the way and turned back to see that the truck had ploughed straight into the fury. The truck had come to a stop where the tree trunk had been with a large chunk of fury lodged on the front of it like disgusting and oversized roadkill. It's arms lay on the ground at the gate. Sasha and Oleander climbed out of the truck.

"Take that you evil hellish demon thing!" shouted Travis, as he and Raz ran back into the car park.

"Why are people always trying to take over the world from my camp?" asked Oleander looking distraughtly at his truck.

"To be fair the only other person trying to rule the world from your camp was you." said Raz.

"I'm still cured you know. Sane as anything." said Oleander. "I'm not even bothered about how I'll never get my car clean again." Milla's car pulled into the car park in a somewhat less dramatic manner. She climbed out of the car.

"Hello darling." she said to Raz. "It's been such a long time since I saw you, are you okay?"

"We're in a bit of a hurry Milla." said Sasha. "I'm sure there will be time for catching up once we've dealt with Quentin."

"Of course." said Milla.

"Guys." said Travis. "We may have a problem." They followed Travis's gaze back to the fury that was once again growing back it's lost limbs. The air was shimmering around it as well and more furies seemed to be forming. One of them looked like a wolf but made out of bones and nerves. It had large spikes sticking out of it's back and all of it's legs were just sharpened points. It's face was just a mess of nerves and fangs stuck out at all angles. The other fury was the size of a bear and it's arms were chainsaws made of bone.

"I hate furies." said Milla, almost conversationally. "So untidy and disgusting." The bloated arm fury acted first, swiping at Oleander's truck and knocking it flying towards the group of them. Raz dodged out of the way, as did Oleander and Milla. But Travis and Sasha strained and caught the truck with their telekinesis.

"You better not be about to do what I think you're about to do with my truck!" cried Oleander. The wolflike fury howled and started running towards Travis and Sasha. Raz and Milla fired off a couple of psi-blasts at it, knocking off part of one of the spikes coming out of it's back. It changed direction heading straight for Raz and Milla while Oleander was still moaning at Travis and Sasha about his car. It took a moment but they threw it straight at the large armed fury, crushing it beneath the truck. The wolflike fury pounded towards Raz and Milla. Milla dodged out of the way while Raz used his psychic shield. The fury hit his shield yelped slightly and backed up. Raz unshielded himself and leapt at the fury. The sudden turn of events caught it off guard a bit and it tried to dodge out of his way. He managed to grab one of it's spiked legs and soothed it. It floundered around for a moment attempting to shake Raz off but then collapsed. Milla went to psi-blast the creature. Travis, Sasha and Oleander appeared to be dealing with the large bearlike fury; it's chainsaw arms slashing bloody arcs in the air.

"Stop." said Raz. "These things just seem to regenerate if you kill them." Oleander's truck was thrown into the distance as the large armed fury started to regenerate.

"I wish I was evil again." said Oleander morosely.

"See." said Raz. "Try and just soothe them."

"Got it darling." said Milla. Raz ran over to the others that were attempting to deal with the bearlike fury. He telekinetically grabbed a log from nearby and launched it at the nearest of the fury's arms, aiming almost straight down. It slammed into the fury's arms and then deep into the car park tarmac, pinning the fury down. Sasha mentally grabbed another log and pinned down it's other arm.

"I hope you're planning to pay for restorations to Whispering Rock." said Oleander. Raz ran up to the incapacitated fury and soothed it. It thrashed around but was unable to attack and after a couple of seconds it collapsed. Just the massive armed fury remained. It charged towards the group, who dodged away just in time.

"This thing is starting to get on my nerves." said Travis. He ran over to the exit towards the rest of the camp and produced a laserpsight from his pocket. He fired up at one of the ropes holding the sign up. The rope snapped and the sign looked like it was going to fall for a second but it held.

"Fine." said Oleander. "Go ahead, destroy the entire camp. I don't mind." Raz could see where this was going and so fired a couple of psi-blasts at the fury. It started running towards him. Raz sprinted to the other side of the hanging sign. He tripped and fell to the floor just on the other side. The fury slowed down and loomed over Raz. Travis fired another shot at the ropes holding the sign up. Again it dangled precariously under it's own weight but didn't fall.

"Come on." said Raz, as the fury raised it's massive arm. Travis fired again just as the fury's arm was hitting the ground. The sign fell and landed heavily on the fury's head, cracking it's smooth bone face open. The fury collapsed forward.

"Razputin!" yelled Sasha, he ran towards the collapsed fury and attempted to lift it's massive bulk off Raz. "I didn't want to get you involved."

"Aren't you glad you did though?" asked Raz from behind him. Sasha span around to see Ford and Raz together. "Ford teleported me out at the last second."

"I'm very glad to see you're still okay Razputin." said Sasha attempting to compose himself again. Ford walked up to the unconscious fury and soothed it. Soothing was after all a more effective way to keep something unconscious than just a bump on the head.

"We should move before we have to deal with any more of them." said Raz.

"Oh one second." said Milla, who walked back and locked her car, which was untouched from the battle. Oleander didn't say anything but he started to twitch a little. "Sorted." she said.

"Will Quentin still be in your Lab?" Raz asked Sasha.

"I suspect so." said Sasha. "He doesn't need to go anywhere to use the psitanium so I don't imagine he'd have wandered off."

"We should head straight there then." said Raz. "Through the tree trunks."

"Look at us all Raz." said Ford. "We could never all fit in my mine cart. Plus I disabled it so Quentin wouldn't be able to get to my sanctuary."

"So that means we can't get to your sanctuary either?" asked Raz.

"Right." said Ford.

"Just walk it." said Oleander. "A bit of exercise would do you lot a world of good."

"Coming from you?" asked Travis.

"That's enough of that!" said Oleander. "I'm not a well man. I might start being evil again at any minute so you shouldn't make fun of me."

* * *

They made their way through the main campgrounds. They passed the lodge, on the wall of which was a spiderlike fury sitting in a web made of bones and nerves. They turned invisible to pass it, so as not to attract it's attention. By this point they'd probably spent more than enough time fighting furies. They made their way into the wilderness and to the GPC. They made their way through the Geodesic Psychoisolation Chamber and down into Sasha's Lab below. They ran down to the ground floor. Quentin was sat cross-legged on the bed, which until recently he'd been tied to. He looked not like Raz remembered him, but like he had looked when Raz had focused on him really hard and saw what he really looks like. You could lose him in a crowd. He just looked like someone who worked in an office. Surrounding him was some kind of purple vortex. Raz guessed this was something to do with him channelling his power through the psitanium.

"Quentin!" Sasha shouted. "Stop this immediately!"

"You can't stop me." said Quentin peacefully. "You're too late. You've been too late for years."

"You won't get away with this!" shouted Ford.

"I'm aware of that. It's not going to matter." said Quentin. "I have the power to change the world… but I'm not going to change the world. I'm going to end it. It's meaningless. Everything is meaningless." He paused. "Life is pain, and I'm going to put the world out of it's misery. I'm going to set everyone free. You can thank me in the afterlife."

"There's no need for this." said Travis. "We can help you." Raz collapsed.

"You can't help me." said Quentin. "You cure madmen. I'm not mad. I'm about as sane as it gets!"

"Raz!" exclaimed Milla running over and checking on him. "What have you done to him?"

"Me?" asked Quentin. "I haven't done anything. The mere idea!" Milla felt for a pulse, it was still there.

"He's not unconscious." said Travis. "He's just vacant."

"Then where is he?" she asked. She looked at Travis. He was looking straight at Quentin.

"Oh please." Quentin said. "I don't even have a psycho-portal on."

"I forgot." said Sasha. "You haven't met Razputin have you?"

"Nobody can get into someone else's head without a psycho-portal." said Quentin dismissively.

"Yesterday I'd have said nobody can push their way through a labyrinth just by concentrating." said Sasha.

* * *

Raz was on the street. Everywhere he looked there were furies. They were of all different shapes. From those which were tiny and covered in spines and needles to huge hulking blobs made of putrid flesh and bloated organs. They didn't seem to notice him as he ran down the streets. Every now and again Raz would pass a bonfire on the side of the street. As he passed the fires Raz caught glimpses of burning corpses. Some of the buildings were in flames, some looked like they had already burnt through. All the buildings had been vandalised. The signs pulled down and the windows smashed. It looked like the end of the world.

He knew exactly where he was headed. He knew that he had just one chance at this. One shot to save the world. He pulled out the laserpsight and pressed it over his eye. He looked up to a nearby rooftop and pulled Travis's psyport from his pocket. He pressed the button, there was a crack of lightning and he was up on the rooftops.

He looked out across the rooftops and saw what he was looking for. He psyported a bit closer; till he could hear the screaming of the mania. One shot. He zoomed in on the mania; a cloud of black flies flying around a small central core. Shoot the core and save the world. Everything was black and vaguely circular. But miss, and the mania knows you're here. It'll eat you alive. You won't be dead but your mind will. You'll still exist, an empty husk. Raz stared at the mania, all the black was starting to run together. One shot. Life and death. He fired. The whole world hangs in the balance. He missed.


	9. Void

Love and Nihilism

Chapter 9: Void

The psi blast went through the mania and out the other side uselessly. One shot and he'd blown it. The flies started towards him. The screaming was already getting louder. There wasn't enough time for the smelling salts. The flies were practically upon him. He was still looking at the mania; the core was all that was left over there now that the flies had gone. He fired another shot, and then refocused on the flies that were just in front of him. He quickly backed away for all the good it would do him. Just as they went to pounce on him they dissipated like dust. Raz finally dared to breathe out again. He pulled the smelling salts from his pocket and cracked them open.

* * *

Quentin was laughing as Raz came to. He couldn't have been out long; he'd moved as fast as he could. Milla was kneeling down next to him supporting his head while everyone else was pretty much where they'd been before.

"So 'Raz'?" said Quentin. "You think I want to destroy the world because I'm insane? You think you can help me? You believe that you can cure me? I'm not insane. I know that rant was edging a little close to it, but I'm not insane. I can see the world the way it is. Life is pointless. Everyone's little pointless existences are pointless. I can see it clearly. The world will be better off without us."

"I can't let you do this Quentin." said Travis. A bolt of purple lashed out from Quentin and hit Travis in the chest. He collapsed. Raz stood up and ran towards Quentin. Raz grabbed him, there was a crack of lightning and then they vanished.

"What's going on now?" asked Oleander. "People keep doing things. Would people stop doing things!" Sasha knelt down next to Travis and looked at him. The bolt had gone right through him leaving a gaping hole.

"It's okay Travis." said Sasha. "We'll get you to the hospital. You'll be okay."

"No I won't." said Travis. "Don't make promises you can't keep."

"Travis." said Sasha.

"Tell Yol I love her." said Travis. "But you know, deprogram her first, then tell her." And then he was gone.

* * *

It was dawn. The sun was shining over the camp, the twilight finally gone. All the furies had vanished, but the carnage they had caused remained. The car park was a wreck and Oleander's truck had, unluckily for him, crashed down onto his treehouse near the kid's cabins. Alyxandyr and her backup teams were arriving at the front gates. But it wasn't over yet.

Inside one of the Geodesic Psychoisolation Domes Raz was lying on the floor. Lying opposite him was Quentin. Raz mentally cursed psyports. He felt like he never wanted to move again, but he forced himself to stand up. There was very little room inside the dome, even less with both of them. Quentin forced himself up a couple of seconds afterwards.

"You might be as good as they say." said Quentin wearily. He sounded as though he was forcing the words out, which Raz knew from experience that he was. "If I was a take over the world kind of guy I'd offer you a place as my second in command." Quentin paused. "But as I'm a destroy the world kind of guy I think I'll just kill you and get on with it." Quentin dragged one hand to his forehead and another out in front of him. He attempted to force out a psi blast. Nothing happened.

"Psychoisolation Dome." Raz said, with great willpower. "That doesn't work in here." Raz struggled towards Quentin. "I wanted to help you." he said. "But your problems run too deep. You can't be helped." Raz stretched out his hands in front of him and grabbed Quentin by the neck. They collapsed on top of one another. Raz put all his effort into strangling Quentin. Quentin attempted to push Raz off him but he couldn't. "You have to be stopped." said Raz. "I'm sorry." Quentin was silent as he passed away. Raz rolled off of Quentin and passed out exhausted.

* * *

Raz woke up in his bunk from when he'd been staying at the camp. He still felt a little rough, probably from exerting himself while still drained from the psyport. He looked around the room to see that Sasha was sat on the edge of the opposite bunk.

"Good morning Razputin." said Sasha. "You've been unconscious for almost a full day now. We were starting to get a little worried."

"I killed him." said Raz.

"You did what you had to." said Sasha. "I would have done the same had I been in your place."

"But I killed him." said Raz.

"Only as a last resort." said Sasha. "I know it will be hard to accept but before you killed him you tried to save him. You're a hero Razputin."

"What about Travis?" asked Raz.

"He didn't make it." said Sasha. "We couldn't have done it without you Razputin. I'm sure you remember how I was holding back from fully involving you in missions." Sasha paused. "Well I won't do so any more. You've once again proved yourself more than able to handle whatever is thrown at you. Just look after yourself."

"Thanks Sasha." said Raz climbing out of the bunk. They walked out of the cabin. The first thing Raz noticed was the pile of rubble that had been Oleander's treehouse and his ruined truck. Then he noticed Truman Zanotto was stood talking to Oleander.

Truman was as Raz remembered him. He was tall and thin, with short brown hair, a wide face and large brown eyes. He looked very distinguished in his uniform.

"Look at this place!" Oleander demanded. "The car park has a pair of logs lodged into the ground and massive cracks going through the tarmac. How am I supposed to teach anything with my house like that? We need extensive repairs on the entire facility.

"I can see." said Truman. "You'll have your repairs fund, just don't go using it to build an army of psychic death tanks… or a swimming pool… or anything else unauthorised."

"Of course not." said Oleander weakly and turned to walk away. Truman turned to Raz.

"Greetings Agent Aquato." he said.

"Hello sir." said Raz, with a salute.

"I think in light of recent events we can dispense with the formality for now." said Truman "I would personally like to thank you for the continued existence of the human race."

"Thanks." said Raz uncertainly. "It was an honour."

"Although I am to believe that you are responsible for a number of angry phone calls from Agent Volkov last night?"

"Agent Volkov sir?" asked Raz attempting to figure out what precisely Truman was alluding to.

"Alyxandyr." said Truman. "I believe you said to her that if she had a problem with you coming and taking command of the situation she should call and tell me?"

"Are you certain sir?" asked Raz. "I honestly can't remember saying that."

"Well that's Alyx for you." said Truman. "Don't worry. I stuck up for you. It was somewhat of an effort. You must really have annoyed her. And what did I say about formality? Come on Raz, let your hair down."

"Okay… Truman." said Raz nervously.

"That's more like it." said Truman. "To prevent anything like this from ever happening again we're installing more security to Whispering Rock. I only hope that if anything goes this wrong again you will be there to sort things out." Truman paused. "Oh and Lili says hi. She wanted to come down with me, but she is in school at the moment and if you pay for it she might as well get some use out of it."

"Tell her I said hi as well." said Raz.

"You kids and your ways." Truman said dismissively.

"Sir, I mean Truman?" said Raz, "Sasha's been sending me operations manuals full of rules and regulations about things you can and can't do. It seems that practically everything you can do in someone's mind is against the rules."

"Procedure manuals are all well and good in the normal course of things." said Truman. "But desperate times call for desperate measures. If you go into things with good intentions then the rules and sort things out to the best of your ability then the rules be hung."

"Thank you Truman."

"I'm bored of the informality now." said Truman. "Sir for next time remember. But anyway I have to go. People to be, places to see, that kind of thing. I'll probably be seeing you around." Truman walked off, leaving Raz feeling vaguely bemused by the experience. Milla, Ford with some psitanium tied around his waist and Oleander were walking up to him.

"Well done soldier." Oleander said. "You did it. I knew one day I'd shape you into a finely honed psychic killing machine."

"Yeah." said Raz sarcastically. "I'm sure it was entirely down to your efforts."

"You've done it Raz." said Ford. "You've saved us all again. I've not seen such bravery since I was last in action."

"You're destined for great things darling." said Milla.

"Could be." said Raz. "Who knows what tomorrow will bring?"

* * *

A couple of weeks later Yolanda Vert was stood somewhere she'd never imagined she'd be able to go before. She was in someone else's mind. She was informed after the incident that when the control matrix that had been taking control of her had been dismantled the psychic powers had remained. She was also told that Travis had been killed in the line of duty. She'd been grief-stricken. Her mind had been a very dark place to visit at that point. But eventually she'd decided to honour Travis in a way she'd never imagined would be possible to her. She would become a psychonaut and his memory would live on through her.

She'd imagined Sasha had an organised mind, but she hadn't expected it to be quite as organised as it was. After blowing up a tiffany lamp or two and demonstrating the concept of censors to her he'd left her to be getting on with blasting some censors. Apparently she needed to blast a thousand before she could get her marksmanship badge. She was bored already.

She turned to the dial, thought for a moment and then turned it all the way up to the little skull symbol. Part of the cube opened up and censors started pouring out.

"That's more like it." she said, rubbing her hands together. Sasha appeared out of a trapdoor.

"Yol what have you done? This is not control; this is chaos!" he said urgently. "I'll try to fix it. You stay here and keep the numbers down." He ran off and leapt through another door. Yolanda grinned. This was going to be fun.


End file.
